Strange Rock/Artifact

[romeo-1]

I found this rock this afternoon while searching for native artifacts. The area this was found in has produced thousands of artifacts but this one has me scratching my head. Is this natural or an artifact?

Also found the big hide scraper but little else.

[High Plains Digger]

Is the chipping on the same rock as the holes are? Somehow, the two looks completely different. Maybe they are seperate items. The "holey" rock is proof positive that you can put a round peg in a square hole. Actually, it looks like (on the bottom of the hole on the right) that it is a crinoid. Are there any radiating lines from that little center dot? I don't know about square crinoids, but I know there are star shaped crinoid fossils occasionally found on the beaches of England near Lyme Regis. But square? Don't know. The next question is, is it rock or clay? Could the square have been put into a lump of moist clay and then tossed into a fire to harden. That is what it looks like, but I can't discern the clay aspect without having my cruddy little fingers on it. But then again, it may be a map to Jesuit gold in your neighborhood.

[romeo-1]

Thanks HPD...the top picture shows two separate pieces...the mystery on top and the large hide scraper on the bottom. The mystery is definitely rock and not clay.

[plymouthian12]

could the squares be where pyrite fell out?

[yaxthri]

An image to back-up plymouthians (I think) correct ID...

[diggummup]

I think the id is correct. I believe what looks to be a round impression at the bottom of one impression is just an optical illusion caused by excess dirt build up around it.

[romeo-1]

That sounds right...I probably would not have even given this a second look except for the field it was found in...still a bit of an anomoly...no pyrite deposits in this area...

[High Plains Digger]

I have dug pyrite out of hard rock granite in the gold country of Calif., and I have seen the Spanish pyrite like pictured (can't remember if it is in rhyolite or limestone) and pyrite can form in limestone, especially when it replaces fossils like in England and the limestone ( with marcasite) around Colo Spgs and Pueblo Co. You said there is no other pyrite around, so that eliminates that kind of formation. That leaves us with the rock. What kind of rock is it and is there more of the same rock around? Square pyrite crystals seem like a good ID, but not if it is out of context. But I don't have a better suggestion. By the way, did you know that pyrite crystals also form as a 12 sided ball?

[Gunrunner61]

maybe an indian found the rock, and after seeing the square holes thought that it had "powers". jmho

[heepiepow]

Pyrite sounds a good bet.

If not that perhaps it was a diposable (or maybe mobile, if the same holes were used everytime) "anvil" over which a piece of leather or something was placed, with the artisan punching through the leather with a square-shaped punch to create holes, so deep that it left those impressions. But, have no idea if Native Americans ever used square punches, or any punches.

[diggemall]

Scrub 'er up good and give us another look at it. Maybe from a couple different angles.

Would be nice to be able to ID the rock type. The circular formations (both of them) certainly look extremely round for being dirt encrustations............

Diggem'